The One with Ross's Wedding

"The One With Ross's Wedding, Part One" is the twenty-third episode of season four of the television sitcom Friends.

First aired: May 7, 1998

Plot

The Friends pack for London, where they will celebrate Ross's wedding to Emily Waltham. ...Or, at least, four of them do. Phoebe, pregnant with her brother's triplets, is staying home, and Rachel has to work. Or something. Regardless, she isn't coming, a fact that makes Ross sad.

With the cast and crew of the show now safely ensconced in London, Chandler and Joey take to the streets as tourists. Joey, camcorder and pop-up map in hand, immediately embarrasses Chandler with his unfounded enthusiasm, culminating when Joey buys a huge fuzzy top hat with the Union Jack on it (having been told by Richard Branson that all Londoners wear them) and Chandler abandons him. He ends up bored and alone in his hotel room, and when Joey returns he apologizes for being impatient. Joey impresses him with a video recording of Sarah, Duchess of York, praising his hat.

Monica, Ross and Emily go in to reconnoiter the hall in which the wedding will take place—it's where Emily's parents got married, and the wedding will the last event to take place in it before it gets demolished. Unfortunately, they arrive to discover that it's being torn down "a few days early" (Monica). This is on top of screw-ups on the part of the caterer, florist and musical accompaniment. Monica suggests they postpone the wedding until Emily can get everything set up just right, but when Emily brings this idea to Ross, he flips out: everyone he invited, after all, had to come over from America. For him, it's now or never. Emily chooses the "never" half. Ross blows up at Monica, but she sets him straight in a tearful monologue:

Ross, how long have you been planning this wedding? (Ross: "I dunno, about a month?") Emily has probably been planning it since she was five. Ever since she first took a pillowcase and hung it off the back of her head. That's what we did. We dreamed about the perfect wedding... In the perfect place... With the perfect four-tiered wedding cake... With the little people on top... (She starts crying. Ross hands her a Kleenex.) But the most important part was that we had the perfect guy, who understood just how important all that other stuff was.

Together, Ross and Monica salvage the wedding by pointing out how it can still take place in the half-demolished hall: lights, candles, musicians and all. "And, I dunno, if it starts to rain..." Ross says. Emily interrupts him: "Well, then, we'll get wet."

Finally, back home in New York City, Rachel mopes about the apartment, upset over how she left things with Ross. With Phoebe's help, she realizes she still loves him. "Why didn't you tell me??" "We thought you knew!" Phoebe exclaims. Phoebe does her best to make Rachel dislike him, but ultimately fails, and, despite Phoebe's (accurate) assessment that Rachel has missed her chance, she leaves for London to tell Ross how she feels.

Guest appearances

• Helen Baxendale as Emily
• Sarah, Duchess of York as herself
• Richard Branson as the hat vendor

Trivia

• On the day this episode aired, Lisa Kudrow (the actress who plays Phoebe) gave birth to her son.